London Stansted Airport's 3km-long runway is to be "fully resurfaced" by May 2023, the airport said on January 6.
The runway, which was last resurfaced in 2006, is to be closed from midnight to 6am over the first 11 weeks of the five-month project, with the work done at night to "minimise the impact on the local community and airport operations".
“Handling up to 50 aircraft movements an hour, the runway is obviously a key asset for the airport so it’s critical it is maintained to the highest standard at a busy international gateway such as London Stansted," said Neil Thompson, the airport's planning and development director.
“A project of this scale is very complex and clearly presents us with a number of operational challenges as during just six working hours each night, we will need to remove and replace around 100 metres of runway surface before safely re-opening it before the first flight is scheduled to take-off in the morning," Thompson added.